Postgraduate Loans for new home and EU students

New full and part-time postgraduate students starting a course in the 2018/19 academic year may be able to apply for a Postgraduate Loan. Students can apply if they:

are studying a taught or research Master’s course,

are under 60 years old at the start of the first academic year of their course, and

normally live in England.

If you are studying full time the course can last for one or two years. If you are studying part time you can study for two years (for the equivalent one year full-time course) or up to four years (for the equivalent two year full-time course).

EU students who don’t normally live in England, may also be able to get a Postgraduate Loan for a Master’s course at an English university or college.

From 1 August 2018, students can apply for a loan of up to £10,609 as a contribution towards their course and living costs. Postgraduate Loans have to be paid back.

Other loans for study

You may also be able to apply for a commercial loan to help with your tuition fees, course costs or living costs. You are advised to check the terms and conditions of loans carefully. Commercial loans are subject to lending criteria, so there is no guarantee that your application will be approved.

You may wish to look into taking out a Professional and Career Development Loan. Also, some banks and building societies offer their own professional study loans to students studying certain vocational courses. For further information, and to apply, please contact the organisation directly.

A loan taken out to cover living costs may affect any means-tested benefits that you and/or your partner receive. For more information on state benefits, see below.

Disability support / Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA)

Please visit our Disability Support for further information related to support available and Disabled Students’ Allowances.

Discretionary Support Fund (DSF)

This is a discretionary fund administered by the Student Welfare Team, to help 'home' full-time and part-time undergraduate, postgraduate and NHS students access and remain in higher education. The purpose of the fund is to support vulnerable students by:

helping those who need additional financial support to meet certain costs not covered by statutory funding

helping students in financial hardship

providing emergency payment for unexpected financial crises

assisting students who may otherwise have to leave university as a result of financial difficulties.

Benefits / tax credits

Studying may affect your eligibility for and entitlement to state benefits, particularly if you study on a full-time course. Several types of benefit may be affected.

Even if you remain eligible to claim, entitlement to certain elements of student funding may still reduce your (or your partner’s) benefits.

It is recommended that you seek advice about this as early as possible.

You have a duty to inform the relevant authority about becoming a full-time student and being entitled to student funding.

Studying should not affect your eligibility for child tax credit, and most student funding is ignored when calculating your (or your partner's) entitlement to this.

However, a change to the number of hours that you are working may affect your eligibility for working tax credit.

We recommend that you should inform the relevant authority if you become a student and if you are entitled to student funding.

More information about this is available from the student advisers in Student Services.

Overseas Students

Find out whether you are a home, EU or overseas student, as this affects which schemes you are eligible to apply for. Please note that these rules are different from those governing which category you belong to for paying fees.

For more information, contact Student Advice at our Ealing site, West London campus, on 020 8231 2573.

EU funding and support

The UK Government has confirmed that EU students enrolling in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 academic years will be eligible for the same funding and support as those in 2016/17.